When you bite into it,
firstly you can notice the chewiness of the skin first,
and then after that you will taste definitely
the umami of the veggie filling,
then perhaps then you may bite into
some of the crispy fritters and you feel the crunchiness.
The skin is actually made fresh every day.
So it’s soft, and it has Q-ness to it.
My name is Michael.
I'm the third-generation owner of
Kway Guan Huat Joo Chiat Popiah.
Popiah is a hokkien snack that comes from
Fujian Province in southeastern China.
The word is the hokkien and teochew dialect for baobing,
which means thin pancake.
It looks similar to spring rolls,
except it isn’t fried. You put vegetables,
sauces, seafood or meat, and wrap it up like a burrito.
In the 1800s and 1900s,
Chinese immigrants brought this recipe along
when they moved to Southeast Asia.
Micheal’s grandfather was one of them.
Kway Guan Huat Joo Chiat Popiah is started off
by my grandfather,
who comes from China in 1938.
It has been around for 80-odd years already.
It’s a survival thing. He actually does a lot of things.
He was selling popiah skin, and making noodles,
and rearing pigs and whatever,
but eventually he settled down on making popiah skin.
The dough, is made of wheat flour, salt, oil, water.
So it’s just these four ingredients.
The secret lies in the blend of the flour.
Quickly mix them.
You’ve got to let it rest for a while.
Then use a paddle
to whack it until it has spring.
After that you have to make the skin immediately.
Because the dough hardens over time.
It's fresh, so we don't keep them.
Because if you keep them the next day, it tears easily.
It is actually a very strenuous exercise.
So a bag of flour will be 25kg (55 lb), so you pour the 25kg
onto a big wooden tub and you pour in the water,
which is a one whole tub. So that whole dough
will probably weigh around 50kg (110 lb).
And imagine using this paddle
and striking it for 15 minutes straight.
The machine one, it uses liquid dough.
It's like smearing or spray onto a hot plate.
It's a little bit thicker. It has less spring.
Ours is a little bit thinner.
And it is more springy, or we call it Q,
or the angmohs (foreigners) would call it al dente.
It is around 300g to 400g (0.66 to 0.88 lb).
So you must learn how to pick up the dough first.
Because the dough is slippery.
You learn how to press the dough onto the hot plate.
If you don't know how to do it well you will definitely get burned.
That plate is 150°C (302°F).
One movement, one circle.
The popiah skin is just 1mm thick.
Probably the thinnest pancake in the world.
It cooks literally in seconds.
Five minutes, you can make 1kg (2.2 lb).
And 1kg is around 32 pieces.
At the shop, men are in charge of making the popiah skin.
The women cook the fillings.
All the ingredients are made from scratch.
There is a lot of work in making the popiah
because it contains a lot of ingredients.
The family hasn’t changed its recipe since day one.
Michael’s grandmother came up with the fillings to add.
One condiment she knew she had to include
was chili sauce because the locals love it.
This is a blend of chili, garlic, and chili padi (bird’s eye chili).
It’s super spicy, which is catering to the locals here.
There is this crispy fritters (made of egg batter)
which is unique to popiah that gives it a little bit of crunch.
The prawn and the crab meat also,
which is actually minced inside the veggie filling.
So there's a lot of umami, seafoody taste inside there.
Bangkuang (Jicama)
is actually the main veggie filling of the popiah,
so when you bite into it, there's this vegetable crunch to it.
It’s so refreshing as well because of this lettuce,
and this taugay (beansprout), cucumber.
There’s a gula melaka (palm sugar) sweet sauce.
It is healthy, it is full of salad base.
It is also sweet and savory at the same time.
I would say a complex taste,
People in Singapore like to eat popiah
as a meal or a snack. It’s especially popular
during traditional events.
We only make it according to demand. On a weekday,
there aren't so many demands,
so we'll just prepare a smaller amount.
But if it's Chinese New Year, Qingming, Christmas, Mother’s Day
or whatever, then we’ll prepare a lot more.
When I’m small, schooling days right, (my dad)
never wanted me to do this. Because he himself is doing it,
he knows the hardship.
But then it comes to a point where he is starting to get old.
He said, “you have studied hard,
you have a career outside already,
so now you're an adult also so really it's your choice
whether you want to do this.”
I’m not going to deny that it was a struggle,
everything is uncertain.
But this is what I choose.
This is a choice I made, I follow through.
It’s a long history, spanning three generations.
There is an attachment to it,
It’s a pity to let it go. And also,
I have seen the hard work put in by my father,
my uncles, and my grandfather,
and suffering they went through with my own very eyes.
The regular customers, we have developed a feeling for them.
(I’m happy) someone is taking over the business.
This is history. We’ve done this for so long.
We know all our customers. When my son struggled
with giving up his pharmacy career but then took over,
the happiest were the customers.
Fun? I wouldn't want to use the word fun. Yeah,
it's actually very tough.
The customers, the memories of how my uncles,
and my father and my grandfather does it.
Carrying on the family legacy
educating the young about this cultural heritage food.
It’s about feeding your family.
It’s about taking care of your workers.
These are all the little things that
I keep in mind to know why am I doing this.
We visit a restaurant in Houston,
that makes wonton noodles with inspiration
from other Asian cuisines.
Stay tuned.